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Jewish World Review Jan. 31, 2005 / 21 Shevat, 5765 Are the Democrats trying to lose the black vote? By Jack Kelly
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I wouldn't think having a former kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan lead a futile
floor fight against the nomination of the first black woman to be Secretary
of State is a good way to enhance the appeal of the Democratic Party to
swing voters, but maybe that's just me.
Or maybe not. Andrew Young, former congressman and UN ambassador, and C.
Delores Tucker, former Pennsylvania secretary of state and former chair of
the Democratic National Committee's Black Caucus, held a press conference to
denounce the attacks on Condoleeza Rice.
The Democratic attack on Rice was "very foolish" and "potentially costly"
because it could backfire among blacks, Democratic pollster Ron Lester, who
specializes on the African-American vote, told the New York Post's Deborah
Orin.
"A lot of African-Americans are watching this and they're wondering why
(Democrats) are going after her so hard," Lester said. "She has an
exemplary record. "She's probably better qualified than most secretaries of
state that we have had."
Among blacks, Rice has a 55 percent positive and only a 15 percent negative
rating, Lester told Orin.
Rice was confirmed in the senate by a vote of 85-13. Robert "Sheets" Byrd
(D-WVa) was joined in opposition by 11 of the usual suspects and by Sen.
Evan Bayh (D-Ind).
The presence of Bayh permitted the Washington Post to write (ridiculously)
"some of the Democrats who opposed Rice were centrists from states in which
President Bush won or ran strongly in November."
Maybe they'd be centrists if they were in the North Korean politburo. Aside
from Bayh, the others were all old liberal war horses.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously against the
nomination of the first Hispanic to be attorney general, on the grounds that
Alberto Gonzalez is too mean to terrorists. NPR's Juan Williams said that
that wouldn't sit well with minority voters, either.
Despite the 10-8 vote in the Judiciary Committee, Gonzalez also figures to
be confirmed easily, with the support of, among others, Ken Salazar, the
only Democrat to win an open seat last year.
Once expects Democrats to oppose the Bush administration on policies with
which they disagree. But to make slanderous personal attacks on such
exemplary people as Rice and Gonzalez is just churlish. What are the
Democrats thinking?
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said Democrats were acting like sore losers:
"I wonder why we are starting this new Congress with a protracted debate
over a foregone conclusion," McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor.
"I can only conclude that we are doing this for no other reason than because
of lingering bitterness over the outcome of the election."
Actually, maneuvering for the presidential election in 2008 may be more to
blame. The shrillest voice against Rice was that of Sen. Barbara Boxer
(D-Cal). When, the week before, Boxer had single-handedly delayed
certification of the electoral college vote, a Senate Democratic staffer
told the American Spectator that Boxer either had lost her mind (easy to do
considering how small it is), or she was planning to run for president.
Boxer coupled her denunciation of Rice with a fund-raising appeal.
The vote of Bayh, a soft-spoken heretofore moderate from the reddest of the
midwestern states was a surprise to many.
"Bayh's vote seemed confirmation that he is running hard for the Democratic
presidential nomination in 2008," wrote MSNBC's Tom Curry.
Extremism and incivility turn off the moderates Democrats need to win a
national election. But moderation and civility are repugnant to the
moonbats who increasingly control the party machinery.
"If Bayh is calculating that a vote against Rice would sit well with Iowa
Democrats, he would be correct," Iowa Democratic activist David Loebsack
told Curry.
The likely elevation of Howard (the Scream) Dean to the chair of the
Democratic National Committee indicates many Democrats think they haven't
been rude and confrontational and extreme enough.
But if Democrats obstruct just for the sake of obstruction — if the Loyal
Opposition becomes the disloyal and distasteful opposition — the Democrats
likely will be the Opposition for a long, long time to come.
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© 2005, Jack Kelly | ||||||||||
